Mrs. A's Grade 2

Welcome back to school!  We had a long December Break and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday, January 3rd.  We had a wonderful Red, White and Green Party on Thursday, Dec. 16th and we all enjoyed it very much.  Thank you to our Room Moms (Katie Ellsworth, Jenny Baumann, and Amy Fudally) for organizing such fun activities.  Thanks also to the parents who came to help make things run smoothly.  Thanks also to parents who came in to help chaperone and help in the classroom that last week before our December Break.  See you all in 2011!!

We’ll have outstanding artwork to upload within a day or two.  Watch for it.  We did an incredible Art Docent Lesson of Starry Night engineered and organized by Char Ramirez and carried out with the help of five fabulous moms.  To create our backgrounds the kids swirled liquid watercolors over shaving cream and pressed their paper onto it, pulled it off, scraped off the excess shaving cream and voila a masterpiece—dried in seconds!  Then they cut black silhouettes of the houses in the background and the eerie tree stump in the foreground.  Decorated with tiny yellow windows and used a sponge to stamp on the stars.  They are incredible and what a fun experience!  Thank you so much, Char, for all the hours spent researching, trying it out and preparing stations and places with all the many materials you gathered.    A fantastic experience for your kids!

What a great afternoon!  The kids were excellent in performing their Readers’ Theaters with expression and fluency.  Each of the three groups did a super job.  Afterwards the parents, led by our expert Room Parents Amy Fudally, Jenny Baumann (in absentia), and Katie Ellsworth were outstanding organizers and put out a great variety of wonderful treats to share with the kids.  The little Pilgrim Hats were totally cute and the pies, cookies, scones, pudding, muffins, and juice were all delicious.  What a great way to end a very busy week.  Thanks to all the parents for coming to listen and applaud, to all those who brought or sent in treats to share, and the brave of  heart who served the kids in such a quick, organized way.   You are all wonderful supporters for your kids.

PS  Only a few more conferences to schedule and a few others to meet.  Thanks for your willingness to be flexible in the rescheduling process for conferences.  You have a great group of kids.

PPS  Thanks for your generosity in collecting supplies and treats for the Troops away from home and family.  

YES, FRIDAY WILL BE OUR HARVEST DESSERT–at 2:35!  You are welcome to come.  If you have little ones, hopefully they can maintain quiet while kids are doing their Readers’ Theater presentations.  Your kids are very excited to share them with you.  They have gotten rave reviews from classes where they performed before the snow hit.

FRIDAY IS THE LAST DAY FOR COLLECTING THINGS FOR OUR TROOPS!  If you haven’t had the time to get something to send, please  try to send something small.  The list is part of an earlier blog.  Check it out.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR FLEXIBILITY IN RESCHEDULING CONFERENCES THIS WEEK.  All of our Tuesday conferences but one made it.  Thank you.  I had 3 last night and two scheduled after school today with openings at 4:30 & 5:00 open if you can make it today.  Otherwise we will have to do it next Tuesday. 

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Hello!  We have conferences starting Friday and you should all have received your conference times slip from your child.  Please confirm your acceptance or conflict ASAP.  Conferences are 20 minutes long, so please help me watch the clock to keep us all on time. 

During Conferences I will be giving out Field Trip Letters & Permission Forms for our live performance at Meydenbauer Theater on Tuesday, Dec. 14th.  Our last Book Order forms for 2010 will also be available.  Both Permission forms with payment and Books Orders are due in by Dec. 1st .  I have a long list of parents who signed up at our Curriculum Night as wanting to chaperone this event.  The first six are:  Catherine Natividad, Belinda McDermott, Charlene McFarland, Stacy Parks, Tim Baumann, and Nicole Prochaska.  Please let me know if any of you are unable to come, as I can only take 6 parents and have three subs:  Virginia Munoz, Karen Ott and Char Ramirez who are also interested in chaperoning.

We are all quite excited with the arrival of Myles Allen’s baby brother Max on Tuesday morning.  It’s not every day you get a new brother!  We’re also looking forward to practicing and performing our Thanksgiving Readers’ Theaters for other classes Monday and Tuesday and our guests on Nov. 24th for our Harvest Dessert.  These kids are naturals for readers’ theaters and use wonderful expressive voices when performing.  

I look forward to seeing you all at your conference times over the next week.

Room 9 would like to fill their box for our Troops in  foreign countries who don’t have access to many amenities we take for granted.  Below is the letter from ASB explaining and requesting your support of this worthy cause.

Dear Cherry Valley Families,

Every year, Melanie Gray- a Stillwater student teacher and parent, does a huge donation drive for the troops. The Cherry Valley ASB officers would like to support her in her effort this year! Her goal for this year is 50 boxes and we know we can help her surpass this goal!

 Here is a list of items that we are looking to send. We will be shipping the beginning of December so the packages can make it in time for the holidays. You can also send any holiday decorations like Santa hats, small trees and so on!

We will collect supplies until Friday, December 3^rd. 

 List of needed supplies

Dehydrated foods (fruits, jerky, etc)

Powder drink mixes (Gatorade, coffee, etc)

 Seeds and nuts

 Individual packs of crackers, cereal, cookies

 Protein bars/granola bars

 Travel size baby wipes, deodorant, tissues & lotion

 Cough drops, multi vitamins, Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, Icy hot, first aid kits, gauze, etc.

 Batteries, Magazines, hand and foot warmers, games,

 Black/white socks,  Winter Hats (black, tan or green)

 Game Books: (Crossword Puzzles / Word Search Books / MAD LIBS/ Sudoku)

 Holiday decorations

 Cards and letters are also a great way to say thank you, or let them know what is happening in our world.

 A big thank you,

Cherry Valley ASB

Mrs. Jenna Farnworth  &  Mrs. Carrie Bellecourt                                                                 ASB  Advisors

You are my FIRST CLASS EVER to earn a 3rd Marble Party by the 5th of November!  So we’ll celebrate this Friday, Nov. 5th from 10:30 to 11:30 with a READ-IN with blankets, pillow or stuffed furry friend, and wearing pajamas, slippers, and/or your robe.   Since it’s a half day, we might as well wear our jammies, slippers & robes for the whole morning!!  I am looking forward to having a whole hour to read my favorite book (s) and I hope you are, too.  Bring in your favorite book from home if you want.   We’ll have warm microwave popcorn and box juices for treats.  There’s nothing better than being able to celebrate terrific group behavior.

We’ll also be having Mrs. A’s Ticket store open from 11:30 to 12:00.  Mrs. Parks and Mrs. Fudally have already offered to open the ticket store for us.  Thank you!

Yummy homemade cookies and yummy frosting?

This is fun, don’t disturb me Mrs. A!

We  put frosting and sprinkles on homemade pumpkin shaped cookies,  made cute pumpkin magnets with glittery leaves, and ate donuts (no hands) from the end of a hanging string!  There was never a dull moment this afternoon.  The only sugar was in a donut and a cookie.  Some goodies were sent home along with skeletons and MATH HOMEWORK!  New donut photo compliments of Mrs. Baumann.  They all enjoyed laughing at Mrs Armstrong trying to grab a mini donut from a string and then took the picture of her trying!!

Six kids and the teacher try biting on donuts--NO HANDS PLEASE!

A very fun game

“Don’t Eat Frank” is a great small group game.  Everyone got  to play and had a chance to win. Thanks to everyone’s hard work and creativity, the afternoon celebration was a great success.    A BIG Thank You to Katie Ellsworth, Jenny Baumann, Anika’s Grandma, and Amy Fudally, who all did a wonderful job.